Front Page  news  metro

Thursday, June 26, 2008

UNM Finds No Cronyism

By Martin Salazar
Journal Staff Writer
      
    University of New Mexico officials say they have found no evidence to support a whistle-blower’s charges of cronyism in the hiring and promotions of 21 employees.
    The internal investigation was launched after the whistle-blower filed a formal complaint with President David Schmidly alleging university policies on hiring, promotions and pay raises had been subverted.
    “I think the investigation has confirmed the integrity of our employment systems and our personnel processes,” Schmidly said during a recent meeting with a Journal reporter and editors. University officials voluntarily provided copies of the findings and supporting documentation.
    But not everyone is convinced.
    “I hear a lot from staff members who are unhappy about hiring going on in the administration, about salaries, about salary increases. It’s constant,” said Staff Council President Loyola Chastain. “People across campus are complaining about this.”
    The whistle-blower — who requested and was granted anonymity by UNM — named 21 employees, including two family members of state lawmakers. The 21 employees have received a total of $883,672 in pay raises since July 2004, although a few saw their salaries jump more than 80 percent during that period, she alleged in documents turned over to Schmidly.
    The whistle-blower said the actions occurred after the arrival in 2004 of David Harris, UNM’s chief financial and chief operating officer. She contends that since then, past state employees or those with connections to state employees got plum positions or promotions without merit or competitive hiring.
    “These hiring, promotion, and salary decisions create the appearance of cronyism,” the whistle-blower states in a May 2 letter to Schmidly. “This is not only grossly unfair to the staff members who are not beneficiaries, but, more importantly, these decisions demoralize the university community as a whole and squander our taxes.”
    The whistle-blower alleged that among the employees improperly hired or given raises were the heads of UNM’s human resources and internal audit departments, and she asked that both be excluded from conducting the investigation.
    Approached with the complaint in April, Schmidly commissioned an internal investigation by Lee Peifer, UNM’s lead employment and labor law attorney. Peifer’s investigation was based largely on whether hiring, promotions and raises were properly documented in personnel files.
    Chastain questioned whether the investigation went far enough.
    “If there’s a claim of cronyism, and if that wasn’t even looked at in terms of where did these people come from, indeed, they’re not paying attention. That’s my opinion,” she said.
    While Peifer found no evidence of a pattern of policy violation or other misconduct, he did find instances of incomplete documentation “significant enough ... to require attention” in five personnel files. Among the findings:
    n Jeremy LaFaver, an aide to Schmidly, was hired by Harris under a sole source provision, meaning no competitive search was conducted. Full documentation supporting the sole source hire wasn’t available.
    n Documentation related to a lateral transfer for Connie Beimer was incomplete. Beimer, who had worked for Gov. Bill Richardson, was initially hired as chief of staff to the president by former UNM president Louis Caldera. She’s now a special assistant in UNM’s research office.
    n Marc Saavedra — son of a prominent lawmaker and UNM’s government affairs director — had a position change that wasn’t documented in available files. There was also no supporting memorandum for a nearly 39 percent pay raise he received this fiscal year.
    n Documentation was lacking for a title change and 14.3 percent raise for Carlos Romero, now interim associate vice president for research administration. Romero had worked for Harris at the New Mexico Finance Authority.
    n Documentation didn’t fully explain a 14.2 percent raise for Andrew Cullen, associate vice president for budget, planning and analysis. Also, supporting documentation was lacking for a promotion he received in 2007. Cullen has worked at UNM for at least 15 years.
    The findings have prompted the university’s human resources office to make changes to ensure necessary documentation is on hand before changes are processed.
    Despite the incomplete documentation, Schmidly said, “in no instance did we find any incident whatsoever of misconduct or misappropriation of funds.”
    The whistle-blower described 11 of the 21 people on her list as cronies, including Harris, who she contends was brought to UNM by Regents Jamie Koch and Mel Eaves. Harris had at one time been Richardson’s deputy chief of staff.
    Caldera hired Harris, though the board of regents unanimously approved the hire.
    Harris vehemently denies having made inappropriate hires, but he has arguably contributed to the perception.
    At a public regents meeting in May 2007, he announced several key hires, including LaFaver, whose father had worked with Harris in Santa Fe.
    “I recommended Jeremy not because I know him, but because he’s got good DNA,” Harris joked, drawing laughter from the group.
    Among others on the complaint list was Billy Sparks, who was hired without a search in 2006 as executive director of communications and marketing at UNM’s Health Sciences Center. Sparks, previously Richardson’s deputy chief of staff, was a controversial hire, in part because he didn’t meet the written minimum requirements of the six-figure job. He lacked a bachelor’s degree.
    In reviewing Sparks’ personnel file, Peifer noted that Harris signed the human resources approval.
    “Typically the HR vice president would sign that document, but when Susan (Carkeek) learned Billy didn’t have his degree, she would not sign it,” Harris said. He said by that time, Sparks already had been offered the job.
    “Let’s look at this hire in view of what’s happened because of it,” Harris said. “Billy Sparks has worked with Dr. Paul Roth to put together an enormously successful public awareness and education effort that’s improved the public’s recognition of the faculty and staff at HSC. It has literally led thousands of people to seek care at the UNM Health Sciences Center and dramatically improved the public’s awareness of our medical school. By any measure, Billy Sparks is a gifted and talented communicator, and we’re proud to have him here.”
    Schmidly acknowledged that Sparks didn’t meet the formal job requirements, but said that if he had been at UNM at the time he likely would have supported the hire. He said it’s important to allow senior administrators to exercise “executive judgment.”
    Christine Chavez, hired as head of the internal audit department without a search in 2006, was also on the list.
    “If whoever (made the allegations) knew me, they would know I wouldn’t take the position without making sure that I had been hired legally,” said Chavez, a certified public accountant who worked at the state auditor’s office before moving on to the Legislative Finance Committee under Harris. UNM documentation states that her hiring meets the criteria for correcting minority underrepresentation.
    The whistle-blower’s documents identified 101 personnel transactions related to the 21 employees over a four-year period. Among the issues raised was the amount of salary hikes for several employees. Peifer’s investigation found that in most instances, justification for the raises was fully documented.
    Harris said the raises were due to a combination of things, including employees taking on new positions or additional responsibilities.
    “These 21 people are some of our most important,” Schmidly said. “These are the people who are helping reinvent and move the University of New Mexico forward.”
    In a letter to Schmidly, Harris denied accusations of cronyism and encouraged Schmidly to discipline the employee for filing a false report. Schmidly denied Harris’ request, saying that employees need to feel safe to voice concerns to the administration.